guitarzan

St Charles, MO here. Very near the Katy.

sknhgy 

I often start from Pere Marquette park and ride to Alton for lunch. Then it's back to PM park and about an 18 mile drive home. I also like to ride from home to the park and back, sometimes eating in Grafton.

travelerman

Springfield... getting back into it after struggling with popping knees since my initial dive into cycling 22 years ago. One of the recommendations for helping my chondromalacia is to avoid hills and climbing - laughable in the Missouri Ozarks. I live on a hill, and after a brief descent off my street, have to climb to get anywhere. From there, it's rolling hills - with some nice steep ones - for as far as you can go. I used to love them, and still enjoy getting up out of the saddle for a good climb, but the middle-aged joints protest.

AZORCH

Travelerman in Springfield: Just a thought, but have you tried BioPace chainrings for spinning on those Ozark hills? Some love 'em, some hate 'em (I happen to be in the "love" camp), but they were designed to relieve stress on the knees. I have them on my touring bike with low gearing and never have to mash or muscle up a steep incline (I ride in the Ozarks several times a year myself)... it's a matter of spinning in a low gear and ignoring the impulse to be Contador!

Best wishes!

gbalke

We must be neighbors, I'm also in O'Fallon and my property butts up to LSL. Also very close to Hwy 70.

gbalke

Hey stlcards,

My son and I rode the Indian camp Creek trails a couple or three years ago when they first opened, great place to ride. Trails weren't very well marked back then and we actually became somewhat disoriented. Had to carry our bikes down a creek bed to get to another part of the trail. How was your ride?

gbalke

Out of curiosity, have any of you guys who ride the Katy Trail riden the recently opened St. Charles to Machens portion of the trail? Want to know your opinions and experiences. Is it up to par with the rest of the trail? Hoping to ride that section later this week or early next week. Anyone care to join me?

travelerman

Azorch,

It's tough trying not to be Contador, or any of the other road racing climbers, after seeing the Pyrennes and Alps stages of the TDF... getting up out of the saddle and pumping your way up a steep incline can be a thing of beauty, and the sense of accomplishment after reaching the top is almost worth the (in my case) seeming Herculean effort to get there.

I think my Schwinn Traveler originally had the oval chainrings of which you speak; I swapped them out for round ones years ago, after reading comments from the pros about how spinning in circles was necessary for "proper" pedalling... wondering now if I should have ignored it, and kept the oval chainrings.

It will soon become a moot point, if I buy the new bike I've been looking at... 10 pounds lighter than my Schwinn, but about 1K more expensive. I would say that 22 years of technology changes might be worth it (provided the knees don't protest too much).

XianRL

Does anybody know if Springfield reignited their bike polo scene? Without Springfield and KC, only STL and us (Columbia) still play.

zhaden

Columbia, MO here as well. Tons of folks to bike with, all it takes it getting acquainted to the scene and mixing it up a bit with some folks - you'll have yourself set up for a group ride in a couple hours.

I'd also venture to say that I've lived here my whole life, biked through the darkest areas of COMO, and never once felt really threatened by anything other than drunk/stupid students driving like idiots. Sure, you get some leers, but that happens in a car, too. I do seem to see a lot more of the "ha, you're on a bike, watch me go 52mph down this 30mph road past you" (especially after I pass a car sitting in traffic 4 or 5 times over a stretch of 2 or 3 miles, folks seem to really get themselves bent out of shape about the fact that a bike is keeping up) attitude than some other cities I've ridden in, but maybe I'm just more cued in to the populace here. If I had to literally bike or trek through the ghettos on a daily basis during bad hours, I would probably utilize my CCW more often, though.

Any way, you can find me putting around downtown (I live close to the library) on my Trek 8000.

XianRL

Right on, zhaden. You do any MTB here in COMO? Also, it seems a Facebook group called "CoMo Critical Mass" started within the last week. Obviously, the idea is to get a critical mass ride going the last Friday of every month. We'll meet at No Gas/Gasless (Hitt St. Mini Mart) at 6 p.m. on those Fridays.

There's a rave ride this Friday night, too.

And are you interested in checking out polo? We always need new blood!

Rider98Glide

no!

stlcards

The ride was fun. I'm pretty green on the mountain bike side, more of a roadie/commuter so I don't have much to compare it to. I went with a buddynwho knows the trails well so I didn't have any issues, but the trails were fairly well maintained and easy too navigate. At least until I broke my crank arm lol.

stlcards

Hey everyone, if you see or hear of anyone offloading an old light blue Schwinn World with Crank Bros Eggbeaters shoot me a PM. Mine was stolen recently in St. Peters. It's a 1987 all original minus the pedals, and had a Nashbar seat bag. I know it's a long shot, but oh well.

Charlie_R

How did I miss this post?

I'm also from Mexico, MO. Maybe we've seen each other around town? You probably would recognize me if you saw me.

See my posts in other threads here....

GMJ

Hazelwood here. Bought my singlespeed about a month ago and love riding it around. The only crappy part is that I don't really know where to ride it. I've taken it up to Creve Couer lake plenty of times and I am going to start hitting up the MCT trails.

Anybody have any suggestions as to where I should ride?

Foxcow

There are a ton of good places to ride in town.

-Riverfront Trail - I've ridding this one from Downtown to the Chain of Rocks Bridge and back. Its just shy of 30 miles round trip
-Grants Trail - A very easy 16 mile round trip.
-Any of the 'Bike St. Louis' paths - so many places to go. I love meandering around town for 20 or so miles.
-Forest Park - One lap around the park is now ~7 miles with the new path

Also, check out the metrolink stop signs. There is all kinds of info about different greenways/paths available. The next one I'm going to ride is the River Des Peres Greenway.

CV-6 

If you drive to CC Park, then you might want to drive out to Smartt Field. Lots of lightly traveled roads in the area. I park there and can do loops of 10 to 35 miles. Used to be able to take the Grafton Ferry over into Illinois, but that is no longer an option. Nice when the corn is high and you can listen to the wind rustling through it. Kind of flat for the most part, though.

I rode out to Black Walnut from St Chas. Nice ride, not quite as scenic as parts of the Katy. Several areas the trees arch over the trail. Do be aware that some idjits on ATVs like to blast down the trail. Wish there was some way to bust them, but I have not come up with anything other than letting local authorities know. But they can't do anything unless they catch them in the act.

homebrewk

I'm in St. Louis.

SlackXIII

Charlie, I have seen your bike. I think you might live just a couple streets over. Good to hear from a local! And thanks for the reply!

travelerman

Absolutely beautiful weather this week in SW Missouri; I had three days off work at the beginning of the week, and while the mornings are starting off a little cool, it is up in the 60's by 10 - 11AM, and clear blue skies, upper 70's in the afternoons with a light SW breeze.

It's taken me three months to get there, but I finally passed the 30-mile in one trip mark, after being mostly off the bike for the past 20 years. Unfortunately, the temperatures and daylight hours are going to recede rapidly in the next few weeks, so enjoy it while you can!

Blues Frog

ShoMeRacing? Are you still here? We went to the MS 150 last month and had a great time in spite of the rain. I don't remember being in Lawrence before so it was an experience. Will have to do it again with enough energy to explore the town. Will PM you with our next bike ride schedule. All of the forum members are welcome. Will post here too. Blues Frog

StevenSTL

I did that section about a week after it reopened. It was a really nice ride. Once you get to the Machens trailhead, jump on highway 94 and ride down to Portage Des Sioux. There is a shop called the Mississippi River Trading Post right inside town. Best sub sandwich I've ever had.

gbalke

Thanks Steven. I know exactly where Portage Des Sioux is, my wife and I go there frequently to get plants for our fish pond. It's not too far from the Machens trailhead and after a ride, a good sub would be a nice treat.

BigdogEMT

Hi all, this is my first post. I live in Lebanon and work around the Lake of the Ozarks. I'm getting back into ridding after many many years off the bike!! I am back to see if I can lose a few pounds.
I am ridding my all original early '80s Schwinn traveler. Its the tall frame which fits me like a glove. Even after all these years I can try other bikes and they feel OK but get back on this one and its just the right feel.
I plan on putting on a few miles around town before I see where else I want to ride. But would love to do the Frisco next spring.
Terry